1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a station selector installed in a video cassette recorder (VCR), a television set or the like, and more particularly to a station selector having a function of displaying a channel number on a screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some video cassette recorders have a function of displaying a channel number on a screen of a television set or the like connected to a video output terminal of the video cassette recorder. In the internal configuration of this type of video cassette recorder, a typical circuitry (corresponding to a station selector) for selecting a broadcasting station in response to the operation of a remote control unit and displaying the selected channel number on a screen is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,946.
In the disclosed technique, if the user uses a remote control unit to switch a channel, the selected channel number is superposed on the screen and a program on the selected channel (station) appears on the screen in a predetermined time.
However, in the above conventional circuit, when the user switches channels rapidly, only channel numbers are displayed on the screen and programs on the channels being switched are not displayed on the screen; the user may be worried that the normal receiving operation may not be performed and it is pointed out that the operability is poor in this point. However, if the channel number display is not performed, the user does not see what channel appears on the screen, and the operability becomes poor in this point.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a station selector improved so as to enable the user to easily know the receiving operation during channel switching while the channel number display is performed.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the invention, there is provided a station selector comprising: a channel setting section for selecting a broadcasting station; a tuner section for extracting a broadcasting station signal from an antenna signal; a conversion section for converting a received signal output from the tuner section into a video signal; a synchronizing signal separation section for extracting a synchronizing signal from the video signal output from the conversion section; an on-screen display control section to which the video signal output from the conversion section is input for displaying a text, a figure, a symbol, or a uniform-color background on a screen; and a control circuit section for controlling the tuner section and the on-screen display control section based on a station selecting signal input through the channel setting section and the synchronizing signal input from the synchronizing signal separation section, wherein if a station selecting operation is being performed, the control circuit section displays a selected station screen of the video signal output from the conversion section without operating the on screen display control section, and if the station selecting operation has been completed and the synchronizing signal is input, the control circuit section displays a selected station screen of the video signal output from the conversion section, then operates the on-screen display control section for displaying a channel number on the selected station screen.
Further, there is provided a station selector comprising: a channel setting section for selecting a broadcasting station; a tuner section for extracting a broadcasting station signal from an antenna signal; a conversion section for converting a received signal output from the tuner section into a video signal; a synchronizing signal separation section for extracting a synchronizing signal from the video signal output from the conversion section; an on-screen display control section to which the video signal output from the conversion section is input for displaying a text, a figure, a symbol, or a uniform-color background on a screen; and a control circuit section for controlling the tuner section and the on-screen display control section based on a station selecting signal input through the channel setting section and the synchronizing signal input from the synchronizing signal separation section, wherein the control circuit section includes on-screen display operation inhibiting means for determining that a station selecting operation is being performed to place the on-screen display control section in a non-operation mode.